7:30 AM – I am woken up by an Associate at work asking where I am. He told me to come in at 8:00 AM to send out a status report. It’s 7:30 and I’m not there yet, so a cloud of panic has descended. I roll out of bed, shower for a minute and head into work.

8:00 AM – 9:00 AM – The Associate hands me a marked-up version of the status report in question. Most of his changes consist of adding/deleting commas, capitalizing nouns or changing font sizes. I send it to our team at 8:55, in advance of our call at 9:00.

I am vaguely listening but also working on a pitch book for an IPO in the background – multi-tasking is easy when all you do is copy and paste Excel into PowerPoint.

12:30 PM – We send out a draft of the IPO pitch book to 3 Managing Directors who will be at the meeting the next day. This is the “final” version, which means that everything will be scrapped and re-done in the next 24 hours.

PowerPoint Pro

12:45 PM – One of the Managing Directors is traveling and has requested a Briefing Book on the company we’re pitching because he doesn’t know anything about it. It’s not feasible to FedEx the book because he is 3,000 miles away and needs it ASAP – we need to PDF this bad boy.

1:00 PM – The Associate drops off revisions to a presentation we’re working on for another client. I tell him I don’t have bandwidth because I’m working on a big IPO pitch for the next day as well.

He tells me to finish by 5 so he can give me more changes and I can “turn” another revision by the morning. It’s probably going to be an all-nighter.

1:30 PM – One of the Managing Directors who received the Briefing Book calls another Associate (Associate #2) on my team and yells at him for sending 100 pages of material – it’s taking 30 minutes to print out everything.

The Associate takes the brunt of the damage. I’ve cleverly avoided the fallout by having Associate #2 be the point person for this project.

3:30 PM – After speaking with our equity research analyst, the Managing Director decides we need to add more analysis to our pitch and focus on completely different metrics. I need to re-do most of my work.

5:00 PM – I finish up with the other client presentation that Associate #1 wanted me to finish. Now it’s a waiting game on that one as I continue revising the IPO pitch.

7:30 PM – I’m eating dinner at my desk. No time to go join everyone else today but it’s Japanese food so I’m satisfied. Meanwhile someone from Equity Capital Markets, the team responsible for IPOs, comes over and tells me to scrap all the analysis the MD wanted.

10:00 PM – I get last-minute changes from everyone else on the team. Shouldn’t take too long to process, but production can only start printing at midnight, which means I’m going to be here until 1 AM minimum.

10:15 PM – As I’m going through changes, Associate #1 stops by and has a bunch of changes to the client presentation I finished at 5 PM. I tell him I can only get started after 1 AM so I probably won’t have anything until the next morning. “Dance, monkey.”

12:30 AM – I finish up and production starts printing the presentations. Associate #2 comes over to “supervise” the production and review the finished product.

2:00 AM – We’re done re-checking every single page for the same mistake now. Time to re-print.

2:15 AM – The printers all have paper jams and are out of ink. Since it’s late, the printing/production crew has disappeared and I have become the production team.

2:15 – 3:30 AM – I need to refill the ink and fix all the printers. This requires a group effort so I call some other analysts over to help.

4:00 AM – Go home and go to sleep. I need to wake up by 6 to finish work on the presentation Associate #1 told me to “finish by the morning.”

6:00 AM – I’ve overslept. Associate #1 is already up and has left 3 voicemails on my cell phone asking why I haven’t sent the presentation to our client yet. I Blackberry him that I was up all night working on another pitch and was going to send it by 9 but needed an hour of sleep first.

6:15 AM – 6:30 AM – As I’m coming into the office we’re trading angry emails back and forth. He says I should have emailed our entire group saying that the presentation would be late.

8:00 AM – Associate #1 strolls into the office just as I’m about to hit the “Send” button. I tell him that I’m about to send the presentation.

He tells me to email everyone twice – once to tell them that they’ll get the presentation in the next 2 minutes, and then once again to actually send the presentation.

About the Author

Brian DeChesare is the Founder of Mergers & Inquisitions and Breaking Into Wall Street. In his spare time, he enjoys memorizing obscure Excel functions, editing resumes, obsessing over TV shows, traveling like a drug dealer, and defeating Sauron.

Hey! I’m currently at a BB target undergrad bus school in the US but am considering switching my major to computer science. If I go into software engineering for now and plan to go into IB after my MBA would I be at a disadvantage due to 0 finance experience?

Investor services is usually not a great pathway into banking (internships in private equity, venture capital, or even real estate brokerage would be better), but it can work if you’re an early university student.

I recently made it to a final round interview for a summer internship in IBD at a BB in London, but unfortunately didn’t get the job. I was told over the phone that the main reason I missed out was because they didn’t believe that I really knew what work I would be doing as an IBD analyst. When they asked me the question in the interview I spoke about that I would be spending most of my time creating pitch books in powerpoint and valuation calculations in excel. Where do you think I went wrong in answering this question and what would have been a better answer? Thanks!

Because you don’t really spend most of your time in Excel or even necessarily in PowerPoint. You spend most of your time on administrative tasks (e.g., tracking information such as buyer lists) and doing whatever the senior bankers need. Even in more technical groups, you won’t spend most of your time in Excel. It would have been better to mention some of the other non-Excel/PowerPoint-based tasks.

Hello there.
Just wanted to know.
Let’s just say,an investment analyst or investment associate has good run for a year(helped get good deals and stay as top performers for years)
Will there be any press(media) for this?
**Can the bankers choose to have their achievements in the media??
**Can they achieve with no media involved and just add in all their achievements into their portfolio?

No. An Analyst or Associate would never get media recognition for contributions to an individual deal. Even MDs are unlikely to get press releases for what they did. Sometimes if it’s a massive deal where the CEO of the bank or Group Head is involved, you will see press releases for that.

I am heavily considering IB, what are the steps to get into it? I’m in grade 12, so next year in university would BCom be a good start (from Australia) ? Also, would my degree be valid if I choose to move to America or Europe? Thanks!

Hello – I work in Credit Risk Analysis for a Top Tier 01 Bank in US. I have daily interaction with bankers (both junior and senior) as I am the guy who reviews the counterparty and submits an opinion to Credit VPs and MDs.

Do I have any chance of landing in investment banking jobs some time in the next two years, especially M&A? I wonder what would be my exit opps as I perform a lot of financial modelling and have exposure to capital markets transactions.

I think it would be very difficult to move directly into M&A at the same firm. You might have a better shot at capital markets, such as DCM, or maybe Leveraged Finance. Your chances might also be higher if you move to a smaller firm to make this move. There are back/middle-office-to-front-office success stories (search this site), but a lot of luck is always involved.

I am 26yr male and have recently graduated with my Business Administration Diploma with a major in Financial Services and also my certificate for IFC ( Investment Funds in Canada), not sure if that will matter.

I am enrolled for my Bachelors degree in Finance this fall. Most of my past work experience is working as a sales rep for different companies and some experience in regards to data entry and administrative duties. I have read some of your other articles and had a few questions.

Since I am not in a top/Ivy League school and do not have the necessary connections in regards to networking, are my only options to be lucky enough to get an internship while pursuing my Bachelors degree or networking/cold-calling etc.? and what other departments// job positions within the finance department will help me qualify to work in an IB after a couple of years experience?

I am an undergraduate college student and was wondering what major would be helpful, or what I should be doing to prepare myself for IB as a potential career? Also, I definitely plan on going to graduate school.

Most banks have templates from previous analysts/past deals you can use, though there maybe times when you need to create templates from scratch so its best you understand the ins and outs of the models.

I work long hours as well and i actually enjoy it.I have a bachelor in accountancy but i never worked as an accountant instead all my working experience is as buisness manager.I am so fascinated by everything that surrounds investment banking and i want to try breaking in.I am 34 and i wonder what would be more useful,getting an MBA,starting the CFA or something else?Do you think i stand a chance?Please give me an honest answer i will try it anyway.

I’m an accountant(CPA) with 5 years of accounting, financial analysis, and consulting experience. Long hours and hard work don’t bother me, I really want to get into investment banking by the age of 30(I’m 28 now). What’s your suggestions on getting into the industry realistically at my age? Didn’t realize I was old until I started reading the Banker Blueprint lol

I have studied and worked in software developemnt side. i am taking Investment banking classes, seems impossible since i have no finance or banking background. how hard would it be to learn and get a job in IB. I dont care about late working hours, I have worked insane hours. Do you think i can learn on the job?

I had a meeting couple of days back for a position of investment analyst with Canaccord Genuity, however I have only operations experience with Goldman Sachs and northern trust hence the guy asked me to go through the concept of investment banking and what an analyst does throughout this week and reach out to him for further details . Do I stand any chance in getting in there and also is there any article which can help me get a complete concept about IB and IB analysts.

Hi. This might sound foolish but I want to know however low the odds may be. I am currently doing masters in Mechanical engineering in a leading European university but I am very fascinated by finance and economics. And I am pursuing many online courses as self learning because I am really interested in this field. What are my chances of breaking in ?

I have always wanted to work in finance but i was not sure which part exactly. Investment banking sounds like the best fit for me although i am a bit worried about the long working hours as i will also want to still ‘have a life’ and be always available for my family. Does the investment banking industry allow you to ‘have a life’?

Is it possible to build a stronger valuation skill set on your own, independently rather than working in investment banking, by reading lots of guides and building out models on real companies yourself? Or does IB give you a “special” advantage in some way, in being able to build out DCFs etc? IB seems like it’s 50% finance, 50% marketing.

I think it can be challenging because work experience is probably best avenue for you to build your valuations, not to mention the “stamp on your resume” an IB internship offers – this can open you many doors

Hi ! Sounds tough but amazingly dynamic and challenging!! Would love to enter the field. Im currently studying a master in finance at a leading european university, but haven’t had any experience with investment banking, PE or the like. What are the chances and how would you recommend me to proceed?

You’ll have big salary but can expect short life and painful one. And if some crisis shit’s happened, you will be on blame. Loo at IB worker at UBS and other prestigious bank now … the bosses made a mess and they cut some thousands workers. No thanks… porn industry is better… and global recession have no effect. Well, let me tell, I was an quant analyst, in one of big ten bank in SE Asia.

Do IB Analyst actually get to work on modeling and real financial analysis or is it all fixing presentations and reports? Do IB Analyst learn a lot of finance in the process or is it just an entry level job to show discipline and dedication?

Yes you get a bit of both – modeling and pitches/reports. Depending on your team, group and bank, you may get to work on more valuation analyses. Most learn quite a bit in finance though I would not expect too much at the entry level – the learning curve will be steep, though you may be doing “mundane” work. However, after a while, you’ll probably realize that you’ve learned a lot, even though you may not think so during that time.

Yes you get a bit of both – modeling and pitches/reports. Depending on your team, group and bank, you may get to work on more valuation analyses. Most learn quite a bit in finance though I would not expect too much at the entry level – the learning curve will be steep, though you may be doing “mundane” work. However, after a while, you’ll probably realize that you’ve learned a lot, even though you may not think so during

Do hours get better for 2nd year analysts vs. 1st year analysts? (all else equal; aside from the fact that you understand politics better, get more efficient at your job and etc…) What about 3rd years?

Also, would you say hours in IBD are more self-imposed (i.e. you’re ALWAYS trying to go above and beyond to be the best analyst, even when not necessary.)

Hours may get a bit better as a 3rd year analyst though I wouldn’t count on it. Sometimes it is self imposed because most who are in IB are high achievers. However, the culture of the industry is to work hard. Senior people will have high expectations of you, and you’re likely expected to work long hours and around the clock for clients and seniors’ demands. Unless you choose to leave the industry or perhaps go for a bank with less deal flow your hours may still be long!

Yes it may fit you well. Flexible hours – well there is a lot of down time in IB/PE but when you first start out in your job you’re likely to be working quite a lot and “flexible” hours aren’t common in the industry. No, people usually have their own cubicle. And no, many juniors lack sleep and can’t take naps even though they want to.

It depends on your employer. If you’re talking about bulge brackets, I don’t think you can negotiate. If you’re talking about smaller banks there maybe a chance though it can still be challenging since you’re still relatively junior